The present invention relates to processing of whole crude shale oil. It relates to the processing whole crude shale oil so as to obtain a maximum amount of jet fuel from a given amount of the oil. It involves the conversion of nitrogen compounds in the whole crude shale oil to basic nitrogen compounds which then can be treated with hydrogen-chloride and the resulting reaction product can be easily separated from the oil. Such a process insures an adequate supply of jet fuel for U.S. military use because of known reserves of recoverable shale oil indigenous to the United States.
Shale oil cannot be satisfactorily processed by standard petroleum processing techniques primarily because of its high nitrogen content, amounting to between about 1.4-2.5 wt. %. As a result, conventional processing techniques result in final fuel products which are unstable in storage. Excessive residual nitrogen in the fuel products is believed to be the cause of the aforementioned instability. As discussed hereinafter several techniques have been attempted to solve the nitrogen problem.